London

Wednesday we went to London. We went first to get our theatre tickets and, then, by a happy chance, we found ourselves outside the National Gallery at Trafalgar Sq. So we went in, had a lovely lunch in the café and then spent 2 ½ wonderful hours browsing.

Highlights: The COG had just read a book, The Judgement of Paris a comparison between Manet and another painter who was more famous in his time. So he got to see lots of Manet’s works- especially one of a firing squad that had been cut up by Manet, but put back together Cezanne. And, for me, the 17th century portraits. I love portraits, all of them. And for both of us, all the paitings we've seen reproduced about a million times. Velasquez and Turner and Stubbs' horse, and the Seurat Bathers at Asniere (?). Phenomenal.

After that, we went to the matinee of The Misanthrope starring Keira Knightly and Damien Lewis and some other people. It was lots of fun to be there, to see all the people, to watch the performances etc. As a play, not perfect, but still we enjoyed it tremendously.

Daughter of asked if I had stood up and screamed 'Damien, I love you.' I did not. Though, I am still sad that his tv show, Life, got cancelled at the end of last year. And The COG didn't stand up and scream 'Keira, I love you,' either. In fact, his reaction to her was that she was so thin it was worrying.

I am pretty sure it was in the same theatre where Sister May and Daughter of.. and I saw the premiere performance of A Walk in the Woods starring Sir Alec Guiness and Edward Herrman, a long time ago.

After the theater, we walked aimlessly around London as it grew dark and I took this picture of Big Ben. Finally, we had a lovely dinner in a bistro-type restaurant. Quite a special meal, much better than our usual. Then, home to Brighton on a late train.

A very good day.